Usurper of the Sun is a solid, but unspectacular, novel of first contact. I’d say it’s good reading but won’t win any awards, but I’d be wrong. It won Japan’s Seiun Award, so maybe my perception is a bit off.

Aki Shiraishi is a high school student in the astronomy club when she points the club’s telescope toward Mercury and the sun. But instead of a normal, rapidly moving across the face of the sun Mercury, she sees what appears to be a tower three times the height of the planet stretching up from its surface. And thus begins her lifelong relationship with the Builders, an alien race that is proposed to be the creators of the nanotechnology based structures being created out of Mercury’s substance. The tower is actually a stream of material being fed to a thin ring around the sun designed to absorb massive amounts of solar radiation, but which also blocks sunlight from Earth.

The main strength of the book is its science grounding. This is hard science fiction, reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke, if Arthur C. Clarke’s characters were Japanese and female. (Maybe Clarke did write such a book…) Space travel to Mercury takes months. Faster than light space travel is not possible. Aki takes years to become an expert in astronomy. Obviously, the presence of extra-terrestrial intelligence isn’t exactly heavily based in science. It doesn’t detract too much though.

Science fiction I read often has characters who can do no wrong. If a character messes up, they do something wrong but learn from it for the future. Usurper of the Sun has a couple of plot branches that just don’t pan out whatsoever. Or they succeed but are wholly irrelevant to everything that comes afterward. Just like real life. Some company comes out with breakthrough technology that no one cares about, stuff like that. There’s some of that going on here, and it makes everything seem all that much more realistic.

However, there’s a lot of drawbacks to the book. Like Arthur C. Clarke, Nojiri’s characters are stiff and wooden. The only one with any depth whatsoever is Aki, but even her character doesn’t have any hidden depths. Nojiri exposes all of her motivations in successive infodumps. In fact, the whole book could be characterized as one long speculative infodump with a little dialog thrown in. What’s more, some of the plot pieces are so clichéd I just had to groan. For instance, an Illuminati-like cabal of the world’s most powerful men meet to discuss the direction of the world’s policy… in a darkened room where no one can see anyone else for no discernible reason.

In addition, the pacing leaves a lot to be desired. The last 70 pages or so are great in moving the story along. The 80 pages leading up to that are snoozeville. The same thing with part 1. There’s an initial rush of discovery, and a speedy exploration of the ring that blocks the sun at the end. But the middle is filled with philosophical discourse that no one wants to hear at a cocktail party.

If this had been written 40 or 50 years ago when this style of science fiction writing was predominant, Nojiri’s work would be considered a classic. What we’ve come to expect from science fiction has changed quite a bit, so it feels quite dated. Not in technology, just in style. The technology described is still interesting, even a decade after its original publication as short stories in Japan.

A few other blogged reviews:

• Cosmopoetica
• Bibliophile Stalker
• Genji Press
• Spoils
• From a Sci-Fi Standpoint

Title: Usurper of the Sun
Author: Housuke Nojiri (野尻 抱介)
Translator: John Wunderley
Cover creator: Katsuya Terada (artist) (寺田克也)
Imprint / publisher: Haikasoru
Format: Paperback
Length: 276 p.
Publication date: October 2009
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-2771-0

Sometimes the old pulpy science fiction is really fun and good, and sometimes it just falls flat. Inherit the Stars is a case of the latter. Not so bad that I’ll never read another Hogan again, but enough to make me wary. Take a non-original idea about human origins, then have lackluster scientist-like characters dole it out in little pieces so it can all be tied together with a big let-down of a revelation on the last page. The real problem with the book though is that every single paragraph should have started with As you know Bob…

What do I mean by that? For the non-science fiction fan, here’s the gist. Sometimes a writer has a whole lot of information to impart about the world, the characters, or the action. The standard advice is to show not tell. But sometimes it’s hard to avoid an information dump, for expediency, for pacing, or for other good reasons. These long descriptions are often told by one character to another character that already knows all the information. In real life, when you tell another person stuff they already know, you are a bore. The real target in this structure is the reader.

Moon explorers in Inherit the Stars discover a 50,000 year old human corpse in a space suit. How did it get there? How can humans have been around, in space way back when? And just what used to be where the asteroid belt is in the solar system’s pantheon?

As you know Bob, there’s no such thing as parallel evolution where species start out separate but become genetically alike. Therefore the human on the moon and humans now come from a common ancestor. But as you know Bob, there’s no trace of an advanced civilization on Earth 50,000 years ago. Therefore our man on the moon must have come from somewhere else, but to be consistent with our previous information, must have genetic stock based on Earth!

The entire book is filled with paragraphs like that, minus the As you know Bobs. Every few pages, Hogan doles out another little bit of new discovery, followed immediately by speculation as to how it all fits in, followed by the obvious tying together of everything into a single theory that fits every fact known. The thing is, the theory is always obvious from the known facts. And pretty much the entire human origin myth behind the book is obvious from about 50 pages in. Maybe it’s only obvious because I’ve read a ton of science fiction. Who knows?

Thing is, all this would be acceptable in pulp science fiction if the story were any good. But the whole point of the story is exposition of this alternative theory of human evolution. If there were a cheesy adventure, or conspiracies with much underhanded plotting by rival groups, or something! But no. Just the wash, rinse, repeat, of new information dumps.

Other blogged reviews:

• Biology in Science Fiction
• Spinuzzi

Title: Inherit the Stars
Author: James P. Hogan
Cover creator: Darrell K. Sweet
Series: Giants; 1
Imprint / publisher: Del Rey / Ballantine
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 216 p.
Publication date: May 1977
ISBN-10: 0-345-25704-9

What a truly awful book! Awful enough that I gave up at page 97, at the end of part 3 (though there was no part 1). Don’t read this book.

The premise in the part I read is standard science fiction. Science group searches the skies for signs of extra-terrestrial life, and they find it. Later, an expedition travels to Wolf 359 to investigate the radio signals and finds primitive humans on one of the four planets. Humans who obviously do not possess the level of civilization necessary to build or maintain a high powered radio transmitter. They don’t even have fire.

Why is this book bad? Let me tell you.

In part two (remember, there isn’t a part one), the head scientist apparently is the only person in the group who knows how to interpret the data, and he decides to give it to the military. His logic is that a stellar race between all the militaries of the world will subject the inhabitants of Wolf 359 to much more danger than subjecting them to the depredations of just the U.S. military. As if there wasn’t such a thing as public opinion. Also, the text is dreary. Endless talk of punch cards and JCL and printouts of numbers that have to be looked over by humans. Page after page of straight numbers. Meanwhile head scientist courts a subordinate whose job it is to verify his data. As in asks her out all the time, insisting on things being informal after hours and that no one will question it because he’s the boss. And then turns around and admonishes her when she doesn’t use the Doctor honorific back in the office because it’s too informal there. And then he tells her he’s verified the work and she doesn’t need to. And has her lock up the office as if she’s security staff.

As revealed in part three, this is all part of his shocking plan to get the discovery of intelligent life out there around the U.S. military. He’s annoying his subordinate so but also giving her the opportunity in locking up to copy all the data and distribute it despite the military’s request to keep it secret. Sure it’ll ruin his reputation for everyone to know he was ready to keep it secret, but that’s a burden he’ll bear.

Even though the logic fail is epic, I’ll spell it all out anyway. Rather than sneak the information out himself, being a hero in the scientific community for both the discovery and bucking the military when he has exclusive control of the information, he enacts a subtle plan to trick a subordinate into ruining his own reputation to accomplish the same end. Not to mention ruining his chances of getting with the woman who seems amenable to his extremely lame courting.

Then we get to part three. Through careful psychological profiling, six crew members for the trip to Wolf 359 are chosen. By 2022 of course, computers can do everything, so the people are supposedly superfluous. However, they carefully pick six people. The biggest question the choosers have is whether to gender balance the crew, which they decide isn’t necessary, going with four men and two women. Cause they are all professionals and will have no problem leaving two men out of pairing off if it comes down to that, though they will all be too busy to have time to pair off.

Logically speaking, mostly okay up to that point. Then we discover who they’ve picked. A Doogie Howser doctor prodigy who’s graduated medical school but has never examined a single patient. A veteran commander who was one of two survivors of a dust storm on Mars but where the person he saved won’t talk to him again because of the unspeakable things he did to her while saving her. A marine without command experience for security. Another young prodigy as an anthropologist. And two others I’ve already forgotten.

As soon as they wake up from cold sleep or whatever Effinger called it (I can’t be bothered to re-read to figure it out), they all have nothing to do. In fact, the commander woke the rest of them up because he was bored and wanted company. The computers do everything supposedly, though the astrogator seems to have to determine if they made it to the right star. And never mind that the previous logic was that they would have so much stuff to do that pairing off really wouldn’t have a chance to happen.

Okay, skip ahead to the landing. Shortly thereafter they run into a naked human who stumbles in to their camp. A primitive camp. He stumbles in because the commander can’t be bothered to stay awake during his whole watch. Some commander. Some excellent selections. Insert sarcasm emoticon here. Now the naked primitive human is there, and the first thing the group does is tie him up so they can sleep the rest of the night.

Supposedly later in the book the commander guy decides to become a god to the primitives, and the book is a look at the dangers of being a god. Or something. If Effinger wrote that with the same level of skill that he wrote the beginning, then I can’t see how it would be worthwhile.

Title: Those Gentle Voices: A Promethean Romance of the Spaceways
Author: George Alec Effinger
Cover creator: Lou Feck
Series: God I sure hope not
Imprint / publisher: Warner
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 190 p. (I stopped at 97)
Publication date: January 1979 (originally March 1976)
ISBN-10: 0-446-940178

In the introduction to this Audible.com audiobook, author Allen Steele states that he wanted to write a space colonization story as he imagined it would really take place. Rather than arriving with technology and terraforming, the colonists would travel much as the Pilgrims journeyed to America. They would be under-equipped, under-trained, and under-prepared for an unknown environment. For the most part, Steele has succeeded in writing that story, and it’s pretty enjoyable. It brought back to me the feel of science fiction that I loved as a youth.

It’s also written as a series of short stories, most of which were published in Asimov’s. The first Stealing Alabama tells how Robert E. Lee, the captain of the first interstellar colony ship, the U.R.S.S. Alabama, conspired with dissidents to steal the ship. Steal is a bit of a misnomer. The ship still goes to it’s intended destination, the planet code-named Coyote in the Ursae Majoris 47 system. But instead of United Republic of America Liberty Party loyalists, half the crew are dissidents snuck aboard the ship. And the new colony will no longer consider itself an extension of the right-wing semi-fascist state.

As part of a novel, the first story was anti-climactic. If the ship didn’t make it to Coyote, the seven stories that followed would have had to consist of blank pages. Normally I don’t worry about spoilers for a story. A book has to survive whether I know where it goes or not. However in this story, the whole story was the thriller-esque question of whether they would launch and get away to Coyote.

Most of the subsequent stories deal with the lives and adventures of the colonists after they arrive on the habitable but not very inviting world of Coyote. The parallels to the Pilgrims and other American colonists seem to be intentional. Steele goes so far as to have the colonists rename the shuttles the Plymouth and Mayflower. They have to struggle with getting crops planted in time for the first winter. They have quarrels. They have feuds. They struggle against the elements and wild life. Some colonists leave. All pretty good.

But the standout story for me was actually the second part of the book, published originally as The Days Between in Asimov’s. To travel the 40-odd light years to Coyote, the Alabama moves at 20% the speed of light with its colonists in biostasis, or asleep. The trip will take about 240 years overall. However, one crew member is accidentally woken early. Lesley Gillis has no human contact, little possible activity, and no hope of living long enough to see Coyote. It’s very bleak and depressing, but very good.

Other blogged reviews:

• A Book for Today
• Marilee J. Layman
• David Angier Blog

Title: Coyote
Author: Allen Steele
Series: Coyote; 1
Imprint / publisher: Audible Frontiers
Format: Audiobook
Length: 16 hours, 36 minutes
Publication date: August 2008 (originally November 2002)
Subject: Space colonies — Fiction
Subject: Dissenters — Fiction
Subject: Outer space — Exploration — Fiction
LC classification: PS3569.T338425 C69 2002

The blurb on the front of the book calls this the ultimate hard science fiction novel. It’s pretty close. There’s essentially two plot points that stood out to me, one hard and one soft.

The Leonora Christina is a exploring/colonizing space ship. It’s designed to accelerate to a significant fraction of the speed of light by using a large magnetic field to suck in stray molecules in space to be used as engine fuel. It is not the first colony ship to leave. The target star system is 32 light years away. Subjectively the crew members will spend five years on the trip. Time dilation and all that. That’s the hard science fiction part, all the pseudo-science about traveling near the speed of light. Some of the problems are waved away with a magic wand, but the science seems mostly good if technologically not possible. I do have an issue with one item that is key to the ending, but since that would spoil it, I’ll not quibble here.

Then there’s the social science fiction part. Partway through the voyage, the ship crashes through a nebula. Even though there isn’t much matter there, it’s more than the ship can handle, and the equipment to decelerate becomes non-functional. And you can’t go outside to fix it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that even a small amount of matter at that speed will kill everyone. The crew is trapped inside a relatively small ship with no means of rescue and no means of stopping, short of crashing. Major cabin fever!

Neither part is all that compelling on it’s own, but in combination it’s a great yarn. The hard science fiction is continued with the crew speeding up the ship ever faster in a search for an empty piece of space in which it would be safe to repair the ship. But also one where they have enough momentum to continue on to somewhere they can stop at. With time dilation ever increasing, years can go by outside with only a small amount of time inside. The text makes it seem like they are increasing speed ever faster, though in reality it’s only a small smidge closer to light speed each time. It just seems faster to the ship inhabitants. The cabin fever results in all sorts of fighting between the crew and officers, and attempts to improve morale, and some polyamory going on.

I don’t think the book would have worked if it was too long, but at 207 pages, there’s just enough verbiage to make this interesting.

Title: Tau zero
Author: Poul Anderson
Imprint / publisher: Lancer
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 207 p.
Publication date: 1971
LC classification: PS3551.N378